1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a central control system and method for controlling air conditioners, which can perform central control operations for the air conditioners according to an operation schedule or control command inputted from a central controller coupled to the air conditioners through an internal network or a remote controller accessible to an external Internet network, and automatically adjust the operation schedule to appropriately supply electric power to the air conditioners.
2. Description of the Related Art
As the use of air conditioners has remarkably increased, a single-type air conditioner system configured by a plurality of indoor devices 10a, 10b, 10c and 10d and a plurality of outdoor devices 11a, 11b, 11c and lid has been installed in each room of a general home or in each office room within a building. Further, a multi-type air conditioner system configured by a single outdoor device and a plurality of indoor devices sharing the single outdoor device has been installed in buildings or on each story within the building, such that resources used for installation can be saved and the efficiency of energy usage can be improved.
In the above-described air conditioner systems, an operation of each air conditioner can be controlled in response to a control command based on a manager's manipulation of a plurality of buttons formed on the indoor device 10a, 10b, 10c or 10d, or in response to a control command inputted from a remote controller.
The control command inputted from a key input unit (not shown) for air conditioners including the plurality of buttons, or the remote controller, is sent to a microcomputer. The microcomputer is embedded in the indoor device 10a, 10b, 10c or 10d of the conventional air conditioner. The microcomputer generates a control signal for an indoor cooling/heating operation, and outputs the control signal to a corresponding outdoor device. Thus, a user's control command is primarily inputted into each indoor device 10a, 10b, 10c or 10d, and the inputted control command is processed. The outdoor device 11a, 11b, 11c or 11d appropriately circulates or distributes coolants in response to the control signal.
If an operation of the air conditioner is not proper, the manager must move to a place where the air conditioner is installed and then input a control command necessary for a repair and maintenance procedure into the air conditioner as shown in FIG. 1. Where the multiple indoor devices 10a, 10b, 10c and 10d are installed on each of stories within a large-sized building, respectively, there is a drawback in that manpower and cost for managing the air conditioners increase significantly.
With the development of a network, a plurality of air conditioners may be coupled to an IP sharer through the network. In the network, a central controller is installed to collectively control the air conditioners. The central controller can conventionally control an operating system of each air conditioner. The central controller conventionally has buttons used for inputting on/off commands for the air conditioners and lamps used for confirming on/off states of the air conditioners through a lighting on/off operation. However, there are problems in that a physical control range within which the air conditioners may be controlled is extremely limited and hence the air conditioners cannot be conveniently controlled.
In particular, where power supplies of the air conditioners requiring a significant amount of electric power are simultaneously turned on, the load of electric power is abruptly increased within the building equipped with the air conditioners and hence a power circuit breaker may not appropriately operate. In this case, all electric power within the building may be compulsorily cut off. At this time, other electric devices also cannot be used. Of course, since problems such as an operating error, data loss, etc. can be caused by an operation error of the power circuit breaker, it must be noted that the large number of air conditioners cannot be simultaneously operated.
To schedule the operations of the air conditioners, the manager must move to each of the indoor devices 10a, 10b, 10c and 10d and manipulate a key input unit to input operation time information associated with an air-conditioner start/stop time, etc.
However, the number of buttons formed on the conventional remote controller for the air conditioner is limited. Since a procedure of inputting an operation schedule is complicated, there are problems in that an operator's manual must be referred to and the increased number of manipulations is needed to input the operation schedule. Since the remote controller is not equipped with a liquid crystal display (LCD), or a size of the LCD arranged on the remote controller is small, it is difficult for time information of the operation schedule to be confirmed.